Wannabe Hero
by Sudden Real
Summary: Sequel to The Four Swords and based on A Link to the Past. How do you enter a palace when the entrance is blocked by a huge stone pillar? You read a book... Rated M for language and violence. Reviews are appreciated.
1. Farm Boy

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

AN: Normally I keep these at the end of the story, but I feel this is needed here so I won't get any angry reviews and/or flames. First of all, Link does not appear in this story. Neither are Darmani, Mikau, Malon or Dekaru (his kids). So, why is this posted here, you ask? Because this is based on A Link to the Past and is a sequel to The Four Swords (which is a sequel to Professional Hero) starring one of the characters from that story. Hope you still enjoy it, and please, review.

* * *

Chapter 1 – Farm boy

* * *

The sun stood high in the sky and beamed down on the shirtless man who was stacking hay. Sweat glistened on his firm muscles (result of the hard work on the farm) and long black hair was clinging to the sides of his face. He stopped working when he saw the horses in the distance and his dark brown eyes narrowed as he took them in. They didn't look like the regular traders of Mendrova city to him, but they still had a wagon with them. He started again with his work as the visitors came closer.

"Excuse me!" one of the visitors shouted as he came closer to the young man, "we're looking for Potrin's farm."

The man stopped working again and looked the speaker up and down. The man on the horse was somewhere in his early twenties and his clothes, though dusted, looked expensive. He had short blond hair and tried to grow a beard, but somehow failed. At his side was a sword in a gold plated scabbard. A bit further, next to the wagon, two other horses waited. The riders, a man, in a mail shirt and a sword at his side (obviously a guard) and a young woman, who was wearing an expensive dress underneath her dusty cloak.

"It's over there," the man nodded towards the farm, "you can't miss it. It's the only building around."

"Say," the woman giggled, "you wouldn't be Franklin, would you?"

Franklin's eyebrows rose slightly before his eyes narrowed.

"That's me," he replied.

She giggled again.

"So you're the farmer who wants to be a fighter, huh?" the man laughed.

"I've told you where to find my dad's farm," Franklin said as he started his work again, "now, if you'll excuse me, I still have a lot of work to do."

"So, it's that way then?" the man asked, pointing in the direction Franklin had told him.

When Franklin ignored him, he just grunted and rode off. When they were at safe distance, Franklin glanced towards them and spat. The farmer who wanted to be a fighter? This sounded like William… but who were those guys and how did they know William?

* * *

After Franklin had finished his chores, he returned to the farm. He noticed the cart and the horses were standing next to it, but ignored them and went straight to the water barrel that was at the side of the large building. He rinsed off the sweat of his body and dried himself of with a cloth. As he put on his shirt, the door opened and his father came outside with the visitors. The woman looked in his direction and whispered something to the young man, and both giggled. Franklin ignored this as well, but his patience was growing thin.

"Ah, Franklin," Potrin said as he noticed his son, "these people are from Lepirin, and they're interested in buying the milk from our farm."

"Yes," the young man said, "we've heard good things about it, and we became curious. And indeed, after we've sampled it, we now know that the things we heard weren't exaggerated."

"Good to hear," Franklin said and wanted to pass the man to go inside.

"I must say," the man said with a sly smile, "I've heard about you too."

"I already gathered that much," Franklin grunted and started to walk to the door again.

"I must say," the man stopped him again, "it made me curious on how good you really were with a sword."

Franklin said nothing but glared at the man. It was clear he wouldn't walk away without drawing his sword, which was kinda hard since it was in the house.

"Would you mind a little sparring match with my guard?" the man asked as he nodded towards the man with the mail shirt.

Franklin glanced at his father who shook his head.

"Sorry," Franklin said, "don't want to damage future clients."

"Yes," the man chuckled, "I've heard you had a misplaced ego too…"

Franklin froze and then glared at the man.

"Fine," he said coldly, "give me five minutes to get my sword."

* * *

Five minutes later, the guard stood ready in front of the house. He was simply waiting, resting his hands on the handle of the sword, with the tip on the ground. Franklin had come out of the house, with his sword strapped to his side and holding two bottles.

"So, what are the rules?" he asked, ignoring the others, "first blood or first injury?"

"Let's make it interesting and take first injury…" the young man grinned.

"Since you're not fighting," Franklin replied without looking at him, "I think it's best my opponents answers."

"First injury is fine by me," the guard said coldly.

"Do you know about fairies?" Franklin asked, ignoring the others.

"Yes," the guard nodded, "sir William said how he discovered their healing powers."

"Again with the sir," William muttered and shook his head.

The jackass would never learn. Guess that beating in Castor Village wasn't enough.

"It wasn't him that found it, but that doesn't matter now," he threw the guard a bottle.

The guard caught it and put it behind his belt. He raised his sword in a form of salute and Franklin did the same. With a swift attack, the Guard jumped forward, and Franklin seemed just in time to parry the strike. The guard kept attacking relentlessly, but Franklin was ready for him, each time at the last second.

"You're indeed good," the guard complimented him with a grin, "but still a long way to go, and thus clearly no match for me."

The guard doubled his attacks, but it seemed Franklin parried him with more ease now than before. Realisation that he had also been tested, crept on the guard's face, and just as he was about to make a comment, Franklin attacked. The guard was able to parry, just before the sword hit him. The guard growled and prepared to attack, but Franklin suddenly jumped forward. His attacks came faster and more precise, and suddenly a sharp pain scratched his chest, and he knew Franklin had drawn blood.

"Still continue?" Franklin asked with a grin.

The guard glanced towards the young man, who nodded.

"Yes," the guard growled but then felt Franklin's sword enter his sword arm.

Blood ran down his arm, over his sword and with his other hand, he went to the bottle with the fairy in.

"I win," Franklin said as he took a step backwards and greeted the guard again, "I must say, I enjoyed the fight."

The guard simply muttered something as he watched how the fairy healed the deep cut on his arm.

* * *

"I can't believe you let him beat you like that, Ivrin," the young man said as he walked up to guard.

"I'm sorry, lord Rowin," the guard lowered his head, "he's simply better than I anticipated. Next time I'll be ready for him."

"But there won't be a next time," Franklin said as he took off his sword belt, "you go back to Lepirin and I'll stay here. And just as well, I don't want to waste my time fighting meaningless battles, no matter how much I enjoyed it."

"Your arrogance…" Rowin started, but Franklin cut him off.

"It's not arrogance," Franklin shook his head, "it's simply the truth. After Vaati was beaten last year, the Moblins that he brought over have been raiding our lands. All the time I have is used up by helping my dad on the farm and fighting the Moblins. Duelling someone from another country, who I'll probably never see again, although fun, isn't high on my list of priorities."

"Then I'll make it higher on your list of priorities," Rowin spat and drew his sword, "we'll see how well you fight against a trained sword fighter instead of a simple guard!"

* * *

Potrin wanted to stop the young man, but Franklin threw him his bottle with the fairy in.

"You'll need it more than me," he grinned.

Rowin caught it and lashed out with his sword. Franklin rolled out of the way, grabbing his sword in the movement and turned around to face Rowin. The young man attacked again and Franklin caught the blow on his sword, turning it so Rowin's sword was pointing down. With his free hand, Franklin hit Rowin in the face, breaking his nose. As blood ran down his face, Franklin hit him again, making him fall over and the woman gasp. Franklin kicked his sword out of his hands and then kicked him in the stomach.

"The fight with your guard was a duel," Franklin said, "this fight is to show you how I deal with the Moblins, because you don't deserve any better. Potential clients or not, you draw your sword one more time on me, and you'll die by my hand. Got that?"

Rowin didn't reply but simply grunted as his hands went to the fairy bottle. Franklin looked down on him.

"So, now you know my sword skills," he said, "anything else you want to know?"

* * *

Rowin simply shook his head, slightly embarrassed, as he got up. Franklin turned to his father, who had watched everything with a shocked expression on his face, and sighed.

"I'm sorry, dad," he shook his head, "it's just…"

"We'll… uhm… we'll buy the milk," the woman said, "we will take some bottles with us as samples and then start a trade route… if that's okay…"

Potrin blinked once and then nodded.

"Yes, yes of course it is…"

"I… I would like to apologise," Franklin started.

"No," the woman shook her head, "it's us who should apologise. We had no right to put you into this position. It's all our fault. In fact," the woman glanced towards Rowin, "I would like you to ask if you could come with us to Lepirin."

"What?" Rowan gasped, "what are you talking about?"

"We've had some trouble in Lepirin lately and we could use a good swordfighter like yourself."

"And you've proven you can handle yourself," Ivrin nodded.

"I… I'm flattered," Franklin blinked, "but I…"

"Go," Potrin said, "the Moblin forces aren't so dangerous anymore and the guards can handle them. And I have nothing more to teach you. Go to Lepirin and maybe you'll be able to improve your skills even further."

Franklin thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Very well," he said, "I'll go with you."


	2. Lucy

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 2 – Lucy

* * *

And so, Franklin joined the small caravan back to Lepirin. Dressed in a mail shirt over his leather armour, covered with a simple brown tunic, sporting a sword at his side and a large wooden shield on his back, he rode at the back of the cart, with Rowin and the woman at one side, and Ivrin, the guard at the front. Rowin and the woman were having an angry discussion, but it seemed the woman was winning. She seemed a few years younger than Rowin and had long blonde flowing hair that fitted her blue eyes nicely. Franklin suddenly realised he didn't know her name. Then another thought hit him and he rode up next to the cart driver.

"We need to make a short stop in Pollykin Village," he said.

"Why do we have to do that?" Rowin glared at him.

"How well do you know William?" Franklin asked.

"We've met him at the court of Kerivon," Rowin replied, "where he spoke of his tales, of how he was able to defeat the four lieutenants of Vaati and how he defeated Vaati with the help of four other soldiers. You weren't one of those soldiers…"

"Did he tell you anything else?" Franklin asked.

"Yes," Rowin grinned, "how he never understood why Caleb accepted you as his student. And how bad you were with a sword."

"I think I've already proven otherwise," Franklin grinned back, "but did he say anything about Lucy?"

"I… don't think so…" the woman shook her head, "who's Lucy?"

"Typical," Franklin muttered and then nodded to a village in the distance, "let's stop in Pollykin Village and I'll show you. It'll teach you a lot about William…"

* * *

The people of Pollykin village looked suspicious at the strange caravan that entered the village, but seemed at ease when they saw Franklin in the back. He rode his horse to the town square and stepped off.

"This will just take a second," he told the others, and went to a small stand next to a greengrocers, though it still attracted a large crowd.

Rowin and the woman followed him.

"What are we doing here?" Rowin asked.

"Checking on someone," Franklin simply said, "by the way, is William still in Lepirin?"

"No, he only stayed two months I guess… after that they left again."

"They?" Franklin frowned, "who was with him?"

Before Rowin could answer though, a young girl with long blonde hair jumped up from behind the counter.

"Franklin! What are you doing here?" she smiled.

"Hello Lucy," Franklin smiled (it was the first time Rowin and the woman had seen him smile and they had to admit, it was warmer than they had expected), "I'm just passing through."

"Oh? Where are you going?" the girl asked.

"I'm headed to Lepirin," Franklin told the little girl, "it seems William passed through there last year after he went away."

"Will he come back soon?" she asked.

"I don't know," Franklin sighed, "but I'll see if I can find him."

"Who's this?" the woman asked as she kneeled next to the little girl.

"His little sister, Lucy," Franklin replied, "he left her here in the village when we rode out to fight Vaati. He never even came back for her afterwards. That's the kind of man William is."

The woman fell silent and gave a sly smile to the girl.

"Franklin, don't talk like that in front of her," a dark haired woman scolded the young warrior, "no need to bring her brother down like that. Even though he deserves it like hell," she added under her breath.

"Can we talk inside?" Franklin asked.

"Sure," the woman said after glancing to Rowin and Alicia, "Lucy, mind the stand, would you?"

"Sure," the girl nodded and sat on a large bar stool behind the counter.

* * *

Franklin, Rowin and the woman followed the dark haired woman inside a large house where a man was sitting by the table with a small child on his lap.

"Franklin!" he said, "are the Moblins back?"

"No," Franklin shook his head, "but when they do, I won't be here to fight them off."

"What? What do you mean?" the man frowned.

"Listen, Talfon, I'm going for a while, and I don't know when I'll be back. I'm headed for Lepirin. Seems there's some kind of trouble there."

"That's the only reason why you're headed there?" the woman asked.

"Okay Anita, you caught me," Franklin sighed, "William passed through there too after he disappeared last year."

"So the fucker's back," she sighed, "I heard what you did last year in Castor Village, and you should have done that a long time ago. Not only for the way he treated you, but also for all the women he sweet talked into his bed."

"You know my stance back in those days," Franklin shrugged, "no one cared about me, and I didn't care about them."

"I cared," Anita said.

"That's true," Franklin sighed, "that's the only reason why I stood up to him when he tried to have his way with you."

"Like the fucker had a chance anyway," she grinned, "you know I never liked the dick."

"Think things would have turned out differently if I had stepped up sooner?" Franklin asked her as he watched her closely.

"Probably," she sighed, but then she looked at Talfon at the table and smiled, "but I don't think I would have been happier."

"Thought so," Franklin grinned, "anyway, in the case I do run into William, got any message for him?"

"Yeah," Talfon grinned, "kick him in the nuts. Farmer Wilfred just had to pay half the dowry back because his daughter wasn't a virgin anymore. Guess who's fault that was?"

"I can't believe I let that bastard…" the woman started but then fell silent.

Rowin blinked at her as Anita shook her head.

"Guess you're another of his little conquests," she sighed, "trust me, you're not the only one who fell for his lies."

"Anyway," Franklin said, "we should get going. It's still a long way to Lepirin."

"By the way," Anita suddenly smiled as she picked up her son, "how come you never got a girl?"

Franklin turned in the doorway to look at her and glared at her.

"Right," she grinned, "that's why."

Franklin just grunted and left.

* * *

Shortly later they were on their way again, and Rowin came riding next to the woman.

"What is this about, Alicia," he asked, "did you sleep with sir William?"

"I'm sure he did a whole lot more than just sleep," Franklin grinned.

"You stay out of this!" Rowin spat.

"Don't worry," Franklin turned to Alicia, "you're not the first girl who fell for his strong tales. It's his M.O., tell a magnificent story with him in the lead and then lead any woman to his bed."

* * *

"I must say," Alicia said, "you are not what I imagined to be."

"And what did you imagine me to be?" Franklin asked.

"Well… you see…" Alicia said, but didn't really know how to continue.

"You know," Franklin said in her place, "ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a great swordfighter. A knight if you will. So I ran away from home to Pollykin. There I was spotted by Caleb, a soldier who had started to train five kids to become the defenders of the Four Swords that kept the evil demon Vaati imprisoned. I pleaded him to train me and was accepted. I was the only boy who's parents weren't knights of Mendrova, and I was reminded of that fact a lot, mostly by William. You can't imagine what that does to someone's self esteem. Not a day went by or I was humiliated in some way, but I kept going, to prove I was as good as the others, if not better. I was protected, if you can call it that, by Caleb, but only when he was around. When Caleb didn't see it, the others could do what they wanted. If I told Caleb about this, we all were punished, me the most because I wasted his time with futilities. When it became clear to me that his "protection" was just a façade so the others would concentrate on their lessons when he was around, I just stopped caring. I knew in the end I would be a sword fighter, and that was enough for me. And then came last year… Caleb thought we were ready and we went to retrieve the Four Swords. Unfortunately that set the demon loose and he took over four of us and started to terrorise the country. Thanks to the children of the Hero of Time, Vaati was defeated, and I regained my self esteem by beating William up. After that, I had always wondered what exactly happened to him, since apparently he had left Mendrova, and I guess I know now where he is."

* * *

"You beat up sir William?" Rowin frowned.

"He's no sir," Franklin spat, "his father may have been a knight, but he was a cruel man, just like his oldest son, Macleus. William was just an idiot who pretended to be a knight so he could get into the pants of women easier. He was all talk, and if it hadn't been for the fact we had to do actual combat, I wouldn't have realised it and still would have thought he was better than me. But my eyes were opened, and I saw a spoiled brat who simply followed his dick and only drew his sword to wave it around in the air."

"It's true that he never accepted one of the duels of the men who challenged him," Alicia frowned, "but he always said it was because he wanted to save his sword for when it was really necessary."

"Guess our duel did learn him one thing," Franklin grunted.

"So, it was you who fought Vaati instead of him?" Rowin asked, "because he said you were… well… cowering outside the shrines…"

"It's true that I didn't enter the Fire Shrine and the Water Shrine," Franklin nodded, "because it was clear that the dangers inside were out of our league, but neither did William. At the Wind Temple I was forced to go through by myself, because those four "soldiers" as he called them, didn't have the key to enter. William was in Castor, fucking two girls he had sweet talked."

"Who were those four soldiers then?" Alicia asked.

"The four greatest hero's I've ever met," Franklin replied, "ready to help a country they didn't even know without expecting anything in return. And nothing was what they received in return. Mertok, a wizard who came to help us, even rallied the guards against them, accusing them of theft, simply because they used ancient artefacts they had found in the shrines."

"Ah, we've met Mertok as well," Rowin replied.

"Who else was with William?" Franklin asked, "I doubt the wizard would go out all alone with William."

"Caleb and Ezlo were also with them," Rowin said.

"Caleb?" Franklin's eyes grew wide, "big guy, bald, scars all over his face? That Caleb? That's good news!" but then seemed to frown, "at least I think that's good news. And Ezlo…" Franklin frowned, "I know that name… but I don't know anyone named like that…"

"What do you mean?" Rowin asked.

"I've never met someone who's named Ezlo," Franklin said, "but I know that name… I've heard it before, but I can't remember when…"

"Well, he seemed to be a friend of Caleb and Mertok listened to him." Rowin shrugged, "I don't really know anything else about him either."

"It'll come back," Franklin shook his head, "anyway, we're getting close to Lepirin. Mind telling me what all that trouble is about before we venture further?"

* * *

"It started about three months ago," Rowin started, "holes… in thin air… And the things that came out of them… monsters like you couldn't believe… we tried to fight them, but they are too strong…"

"And where do these holes lead to?" Franklin asked.

"To be sure? I don't know…" Rowin shook his head, "all those who had the unfortunate luck to get sucked in them, only few have returned, half mad. Whatever is out there, it's dangerous."

"Are they after anything in particular?"

"I don't know," Rowin replied, "maybe our king knows, but he doesn't tell us."

"You're not that important, huh?" Franklin grinned.

"Yeah," Rowin shrugged, "I guess… wish he would tell us. Then we could have some chance of defeating this."

"Or if he tells, panic could spread out, making the situation even worse…" Franklin added grimly.

"That's…" Rowin thought for a second, "that is possible too… But I don't see how things could be worse…"

"There's always a chance," Franklin grunted, "and with some bad luck, we'll experience it… there's the Veil Falls Valley…"

* * *

AN: Okay, this story has WAY less hits than Wind Waker (yes, I check those). I can't help wonder why though. Is it because this story is about Franklin and not Link or any of his offspring or because it's based on a very old game (if that's the reason, guess I'll put my fic on the first game definitely on hold)? Let me know what you want me to do make this more attractive, because I can't drop this story. I'll tell you now that it is important for the next part of the saga, and if I don't finish this, a lot of people will demand questions that can only be answered in this story (so yes, this story involves Link somehow).

Anyway, next chapter will (finally) have some real combat in it.


	3. To Lepirin

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 3 – To Lepirin

* * *

Franklin simply glanced at the large mountain to the right, where Vaati had been imprisoned for countless of years, until the actions of his fellow warriors caused him to escape. He hadn't been here ever since Vaati was destroyed by Link's kids, and he didn't want to stay too long. The whole ordeal was like a bad taste in his mouth, one he didn't like to be reminded off. The valley consisted mostly of rocks and a small stream. Maybe sometime in the past something grew here, but the traffic between Lepirin and Mendrova, although this diminished in the last decade, had eradicated almost all the grass on the ground. They quickly passed it and finally set foot in Lepirin. Grass was beginning to return and the feeling of unease that Franklin had felt for being so close to the Veil Falls mountain was replaced by another sort of unease.

"Something's not right…" he said as he looked around.

"What do you mean?" Rowin frowned.

"Where are the guards?" Alicia asked, "there should be some guards here… ah, there's the guard hou…"

She fell silent as she saw the large hole in the roof of the small building.

"Get to the back!" Franklin ordered as he drew his sword.

Rowin and Ivrin also drew their sword as Alicia quickly rode behind the cart. Three guardsmen came out of the building. Franklin started to lower his sword, but a nod from Rowin made him raise it again. Behind the guards, a green ratlike man appeared.

"A Goriya!" Ivrin shouted, "those guards are possessed! My lord, get to the back!"

"I won't run away from a battle!" Rowin replied and urged his horse forward.

* * *

Franklin heard Ivrin curse and both men followed Rowin into battle. Rowin ran one of the guards over and headed straight to the Goriya.

"Great," Franklin muttered, "can't that idiot take on the guards? Ivrin, I'll go help him! You take care of the guards!"

"Forget it!" Ivrin replied, "I have to defend Rowin! You take the guards!"

Franklin cursed as he killed one of the guards. He really didn't feel comfortable on his horse. He was used to fighting on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ivrin ignore a guard and rush to the Goriya who had just killed Rowin's horse. Rowin fell to the ground and as he got up, the Goriya stood before him, with his sword raised. Just as he was going to bring it down, he jumped out of the way when Ivrin arrived.

"Take my horse and run with lady Alicia," Ivrin said as he got off his horse and turned to the Goriya.

"But…" Rowin started.

"Rowin!" Franklin shouted as he killed the last guard, "take Alicia and get her to safety!"

Rowin was about to object, but jumped back when the Goriya charged. Ivrin was just barely able to block the attack and defend Rowin.

"Quickly," Ivrin hissed.

Rowin nodded and got on the horse. Franklin got off his horse to help Ivrin, who was losing against the rat-man. A large cut ran across his chest through his mail shirt and blood coloured his shirt red. Franklin approached the Goriya from the back, quietly to surprise it. But just as he was to strike, the Goriya jumped up, did a flip and landed on the shoulders of Ivrin. Franklin had never seen anything move that fast. Franklin attacked, but the rat-man jumped away. Ivrin got up and picked up his sword.

"Get out," he hissed, "I'll slow it down."

"We'll get it," Franklin said as the Goriya attacked.

Franklin was able to block and countered, leaving an opening for the Goriya. Franklin was hit in the side and felt broken links of the chainmail under his tunic enter his flesh by the force of the blow. He gasped for breath as the Goriya raised his sword again, but Ivrin attacked the rat-creature again.

"Run!" Ivrin repeated, "forget about me! Get the others to safety!"

Franklin nodded and ran towards his horse. He saw in the distance Rowin and Alicia standing near the cart and motioned to them to ride on. When they didn't move, he quickly rode off towards them.

"Get out of here! Now!" he told them.

"But Ivrin…" Alicia started.

"Is making sure we can get away," Franklin told her as he looked back.

Ivrin was still fighting, though countless wounds ran across his body.

"We get the fuck out of here, right away," Franklin said as he watched how the Goriya chopped off Ivrin's arm and started to gut him alive.

"Are you saying to leave him?" Rowin gasped.

"He's giving his life for us to escape," Franklin hissed, "are you going to throw that away?"

"Are you just going to leave him like that?" Rowin spat.

"Fine," Franklin sighed as he got out his bow, "but first you leave with Alicia and the cart."

"I'm staying," Rowin said.

"Whatever," Franklin replied, "Alicia, get the fuck out of here. I'll catch up to you later."

"Don't you mean, WE will catch up later?" Rowin raised an eyebrow as he got his bow out.

"You won't make it," Franklin stated coldly and let go off the arrow.

* * *

The Goriya jumped out of the way, but he wasn't what Franklin was aiming at. The arrow entered Ivrin's head and stopped his screams of pain.

"You… you killed…" Rowin gasped in shock.

The Goriya seemed equally shocked and looked back at Franklin, too late noticing the second arrow. The creature tried to dodge, but was hit in the shoulder. It fell on the ground, and as it got up, Franklin urged his horse forward. He jabbed his sword forward, blocking the escape path of the Goriya and rode over it with his horse. The rat-creature was trampled by the horse, but still moving. Franklin turned around and shot another arrow. It hit the Goriya straight in the left eye and the creature fell down.

* * *

"You killed him," Rowing rode up to Franklin.

"He was dead either way," Franklin simply stated and turned his horse around, in the direction of which the cart had fled to, "I just eased his suffering."

"A fairy could have…" Rowin shook his head.

"That thing was nearly too good for me," Franklin shot back, "I can't nearly even believe I was able to beat it. Ivrin's wounds were too deep and he would have bled to death before I had finished off that Goraya, or whatever you called it."

"But if we healed him right away…" Rowin tried once more, knowing he was already defeated.

"There are some things even a fairy can't heal, and even if it was possible, then that thing would have killed him anyway," Franklin ended the discussion, "it was the only thing I could do. Trust me, I have been in this sort of situation before."

Rowin heard from the tone of his voice Franklin had already been forced to kill too many of his own to save them from a worse faith, and he knew now was no different from those times.

"Where are the others headed?" Franklin asked.

"There's a sanctuary a bit further down the road," Rowin said, "I'm sure the others are headed that way."

"Let's hope we catch up with them soon and they're safe."

* * *

The sanctuary was a large red building, set in a seemingly peaceful garden. No traces were visible that the lands were in turmoil, except for the many people that were in the garden. Wounded people with bloodied bandages were sitting in the shade of the trees, while guards watched the roads carefully. Franklin and Rowin caught up with the cart, just as it rode through the gates.

"Where's Ivrin?" Alicia asked.

"He… he didn't make it," Rowin replied, with grief in his voice.

Alicia started crying and looked at Franklin for more explanation, but the young warrior simply dismounted and took off his brown tunic. His mail shirt was now visible and was damaged at the left side, where the Goriya had hit him. He carefully pulled out the rings that were lodged in him, and grunted when his flesh finally let them go.

"Aren't you going to use one of your fairies?" Talicia asked as she watched him clean the wound out with water.

"Not on something like this," he said, "after seeing how good that thing is, I'll need every fairy I have."

"Don't worry about that," an old woman said, dressed in a white gown, "there's a fairy pond behind the sanctuary. We learned of their healing powers recently and they've been very helpful."

Franklin considered this for a second but then shook his head. He took out a green bottle out of his saddlebag and rubbed some of the liquid inside on his wound. He hissed as the wound disinfected. Then he took off his mail shirt and leather armour and took out a blue jar. He rubbed some thick paste on his wound.

"Do you have any bandages?" he asked the woman.

She nodded and called a younger nurse. She applied to bandage over the paste, around his middle.

"Thanks," he smiled, but it was visible it was just a courtesy smile.

The nurse simply nodded and returned to another wounded man.

* * *

"Who's your friend, Rowin?" the older nurse asked.

"Uhm… this is Franklin… from Mendrova…" Rowin started.

"Franklin?" the nurse raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "and how did you get that wound? Ride against a tree or did you cut yourself on your own sword?"

"Guess William was here too," Franklin grunted, "where can I speak with someone who knows something about what's going on?"

"And why would you speak to him?" the nurse laughed, "think you can play the hero here? We know all about you, young man."

"Uhm…" Rowin raised his hand, "he got that wound from a Goriya…"

The nurse's eyes grew wide and then narrowed. She was about to say something, but Rowin spoke up again.

"We ran into some possessed soldiers and a Goriya," he continued, "we were lucky that Franklin was here, or we all would have been dead, instead of just Ivrin."

"Ivrin's dead?" the nurse said, "no doubt thanks to this young man's arrogance…"

"Tell me," Franklin turned to the nurse, "did William fuck you too or just the good looking ones?"

The nurse gasped loudly and suddenly noticed a younger nurse turn red. She blinked and then turned to Franklin, now with his sword drawn, the tip under her chin.

"Tell me where I can find someone who knows more about these problems," he said coldly, "or you might be the one who needs a fairy."

"They say that the king's advisor, Sahasrahla," the young nurse said, "is somewhere in the western plateau…"

Franklin looked at her and nodded his head. He sheathed his sword and turned around to his horse.

"Good thing I packed lunch," he said and then looked at Rowin.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked as he saw the young man mount his horse.

"I'm coming with you," he said, "you don't know the lands, and you would get lost."

"Fine…" Franklin sighed, "but get some fairies first. I don't want to die simply because I kept you alive."

Rowin nodded and rode to the back of the sanctuary. Talicia walked up to Franklin and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good luck," she said, "and sorry for the way we treated you when we first met you. I see now that they were all lies."

"Better late than never," Franklin grunted as he put his armour back on, with his brown tunic on top, and then grinned at Talicia, "don't worry, I'll be fine."

He looked back to see Rowin coming back and then mounted his horse.

"Time to sort this mess out," he sighed, "fuck, what did I get myself into?"

* * *

AN: Man, this chapter was a bitch. I had to rewrite it three times, and since I still wasn't really satisfied, I rewrote large parts of the first chapters, to change Ivrin's role.

Anyway, if you want a layout (and spoilerish things) of Lepirin, just take the map of A Link to the Past and flip it, both horizontally and vertically (so the desert is in the top right corner, this is part of the Gerudo Desert from Hyrule).

And what kind of name is Sahasrahla anyway? Think I'll either copy/paste his name or simply put something simple like and then replace it automatically. And I thought I had it bad with home made names…


	4. Bad preparations

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 4 – Bad preparations

* * *

"We should have gotten some guards with us," Rowin said as they rode away. 

"Yeah," Franklin agreed, "but we couldn't do that."

"What for?" Rowin frowned.

"First of all," Franklin said, "they're needed to protect the sanctuary, and second of all, did you see how those nurses reacted to me? I bet the guards will even be worse, thinking it's more important to "show me my place" than to defeat whatever evil is lurking here."

"But you can show them…" Rowin started, but Franklin cut him off.

"No time," he said, "besides, I only want to know what that guy knows. I'm not going to fight this evil all alone."

"Oh," Rowin replied.

"Disappointed?" Franklin grinned, "thought you were riding with the sort of hero William wasn't? Let me tell you something. I am a more than able swordsman. But I don't have a death wish. I have taken on whole war bands of Moblins single handed, but only because I knew I could handle them. If there were too many for me, I'd leave them and return with some able men from Pollykin village. And that's the same I'll do here."

"I see," Rowin nodded, but didn't really sounded convinced, "uhm, it's this way."

Rowin and Franklin turned south at the river and crossed a large wooden bridge.

* * *

As they rode up a large stone field, Franklin suddenly motioned Rowin to stop. 

"Wha…" Rowin started to ask, but a gesture of Franklin made him stop.

Franklin quietly drew his sword and readied his shield, and rode slowly forward. From his left, a large Moblin jumped up from behind a rock, his warcry stopping as Franklin's sword hit him. From behind nearly every rock, a Moblin jumped up, waving their swords in the air. Franklin swung his sword around and struck a Moblin with every blow.

"Ride on!" he yelled at Rowin, "and don't stop!"

* * *

Rowin nodded and urged his horse onward, trampling a Moblin who jumped in front of him in an attempt to stop him. He didn't look where he was going, only that he wanted to get away from the Moblins. When he saw another one coming up from the left, he suddenly realised that he should have turned back to the safety of the sanctuary. He tried to draw his sword, but the Moblin had already grabbed the halter on the head of the horse and dragged it down to the ground. Rowin was lucky enough to be thrown out of the saddle because of the shock, or he would have been stuck under it. The Moblin let go of the horse and turned to Rowin, raising his sword and sported a wicked grin. Rowin glanced towards his horse that quickly got up, seeing if he could jump on and get away before the sword came down, when the horse seemed to explode in a fountain of red. Rowin flinched as he felt the blood splatter on his face and when he looked again, he saw another Moblin that just cleaved his horse in two with a huge axe. He didn't even notice the first Moblin anymore, until a large knife passed him and buried itself in the Moblin. The Moblin with the axe turned his attention from Rowin to where the knife came from, and Rowin simply followed his gaze. 

There he saw Franklin killing one of the last Moblins with his sword, as he used one of the swords of the Moblins as a crude shield. His own wooden shield already lay shattered at his feet, the metal frame lodged in the skull of a Moblin. Suddenly Franklin saw an opening and threw the Moblin sword towards the axe-wielding Moblin. As he parried the throw, Franklin dodged the blow of the last Moblin, picking up another stray knife in the process and planted it deep in the sides of his attacker. He simply grunted and swung one last time before his brain registered he was dead. The Moblin with the axe bellowed loudly and stomped the ground, indicating he was ready to charge. Franklin simply made a step back, readying his sword behind him, the tip facing the Moblin, as if he wanted to make a giant thrust. Rowin saw nothing of panic on his face, even though there was no way Franklin could survive that!

Rowin blinked. He was there too! He was at the battlefield and when that Moblin killed Franklin, he would come to kill him! Rowin looked back at the Moblin, who was still focussed on Franklin, and saw him slowly come in motion. Rowin drew his sword and, be it luck or plan, the tip cut the leg of the Moblin. Not deep, but deep enough to distract the Moblin, causing him to look back. At that point, Franklin dashed forward, driving his sword forward, entering the throat of the Moblin, piercing his heart. Franklin stepped to the side as the thundering Moblin passed a few more steps before falling to the ground.

* * *

"That was the last one," Franklin said as he calmly walked up to the Moblin, "which is good, because I ran out of weapons."

Rowin blinked and looked around. Franklin's horse lay dead on the ground, surrounded by the corpses of several Moblins. Rowin made a quick count.

"Ten?" he shouted out, "you killed ten? By yourself?"

Franklin frowned and looked around. He suddenly pointed to one, not far from his horse.

"You can't count that one," he said, "that's half of the one near that stone over there. So that's only nineteen… Right, but I forgot the one that was about to attack you, so that is ten…"

"No one can kill ten Moblins by himself!"

"Doesn't matter really," Franklin said to Rowin as he kneeled by his horse, "we have things to do. In case you didn't notice, we don't have any horses anymore, which means we'll move slower and we'll have to carry more. Now, I don't know anything about these lands, so I don't know if or when more Moblins will show up. We still need to find that guy Sahasrahla, remember?"

"You killed ten Moblins…" Rowin repeated.

"Yeah," Franklin nodded, "and I lost my shield in the process, broke one of my back up knifes, sprung my bowstring as my horse went down, and I'm bleeding pretty fucking bad here. So will you stop freaking out and fucking move so we can get to safety?"

Rowin blinked and now saw Franklin was indeed bleeding. A piece of metal was sticking out of his leg, and a metal spike was stuck in his shield-arm. Blood ran over his sword-arm, starting somewhere just under his shoulder.

"Does… does it…" Rowin started but Franklin cut him short.

"Safety first, remember? Now let's get the fuck out of here!"

Rowin nodded and turned to his horse. When he saw his saddlebag had landed in the intestines of the horse, he turned and threw up.

* * *

Some time later, they arrived at a large stone bridge. 

"It's this way," Rowin said, pointing to a small path to the left.

"Good," Franklin nodded and put his saddlebag down, "we stop here for a while, so I can tend my wounds. We should be safe enough," he said as he looked around.

Rowin nodded and scanned the area.

"Better grab your sword, just in case," Franklin looked up to him from his saddlebag.

Rowin nodded again and drew his sword, as Franklin took out some bottles. He pulled out the spike out of his arm and the piece of metal out of his leg, and blood gushed out of the wound. Franklin didn't even blink, but did stop for a moment to look up to Rowin, who watched looking a bit faint.

"You're not gonna throw up again, are you?" he raised an eyebrow.

Rowin turned slightly red and looked away.

"Relax," Franklin grinned as he released a fairy from the bottle, "I'm just teasing you. It's completely understandable you threw up when you saw what was left of your horse. I would be surprised if you didn't."

"Well, you didn't," Rowin replied, glancing at Franklin.

"I've seen a lot in the past year," Franklin said, "stuff that still haunt me in my dreams. Anyway… time to go again. I hope we won't have any trouble now that we don't have our horses."

"We would have been forced to leave the horses behind anyway," Rowin said, "we have to climb a bit."

"Fuck," Franklin hissed as he stretched his back, placing his hands on his lower back, "if I had known that, I would have looked for a backpack or something."

"I'm sorry…" Rowin shook his head, "it slipped my mind. This whole thing…" he motioned around him as if to show what he meant, "it was a complete impulse."

"Thought so," Franklin grinned, "have you ever been in a fight?"

"I know how to use my sword," Rowin answered, narrowing his eyes a bit.

"That's not what I meant," Franklin shook his head, "I knew how to use a sword, and so did William, but until last year, when we went out to fight Vaati, none of us had been in a real fight. And it's totally different than knowing how to use a sword."

"Oh…" Rowin looked away a bit, "then no… today was my first real fight."

"Fuck," Franklin kicked a small rock away and looked back at Rowin, shaking his head, "no, it's not you I'm mad at, it's me. I should have thought about bringing some sticks with me. That way, I could have taught you some moves traditional sword instructors don't teach. Then again," he sighed, "I didn't really expect to spend a lot of time with you."

"Guess this trip isn't what you expected to be," Rowin tried to smile.

"Heh," Franklin grinned without humour, "you can say that again. I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it. Well, time to go."

Rowin nodded and wanted to put his sword away, but then decided against it. He was going to be in a fight, whatever happened, so he better be prepared. He picked up his saddlebag and put in on his shoulder.

* * *

AN: This chapter was supposed to be longer and include Sahasrahla, but then I noticed how long the chapter actually was and decided to cut it in two parts. And more bad news, the next update will be a few days late, since I'll be away on a small vacation, but it should be up on Saturday or Sunday. 

Then again, it's not like anyone will be complaining, since this story doesn't get any reviews at all…


	5. Sahasrahla

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 5 - Sahasrahla

* * *

Soon the small path brought them to a large stone gate, between the large rock walls. The pillars of the gate, Franklin noticed, were of white marble. So, something important was in these mountains, he thought, important enough to make a gate like that. He decided not to ask Rowin, but stored it as a question he would ask Sahasrahla later. Franklin shifted his saddlebag on his shoulder a bit so he could drop it easily when he had to draw his sword and carefully scanning the area, he stepped through the gate. Soon, they came at the foot of the mountain, and an old worn path could be seen, carved a long time ago in the rock wall. Franklin muttered a profanity as he watched it go up.

"What's wrong?" Rowin asked.

"If we take the path," he said without looking to Rowin, "we'll have practically no cover. It's a perfect place for an ambush. And since we're carrying our saddlebags, we won't be able to use a bow… Not that I have one," Franklin smirked, "another thing I forgot at home. Do you have a bow, anyway?"

"No," Rowin shook his head, "I'm not really good with a bow."

"Figures," Franklin hissed, "what the fuck was I thinking when I came here. I'm completely unprepared."

"Do you think we should turn back to the sanctuary to get the right equipment?" Rowin asked.

"Well, we're here anyway," Franklin sighed, "let's just hope we'll make it to Sahasrahla in one piece."

With that he took the first step on the path. He looked up, seeing if anyone had shown himself at the top, and then took a second step.

"So far so good," he muttered as he continued upwards.

* * *

They reached a small plateau, guarded by white marble statues of knights, worn by the weather. Franklin nodded, yep, this was something important in these mountains. Warily he scanned the area for any guards, but he saw no one. None the less, he drew his sword as he carefully stepped forward. Rowin frowned, but drew his sword too.

"Do you see anyone?" he whispered as he looked around.

Franklin just shook his head as he passed the first line of statues. There were seven of them. Three in a first line, then one, and finally three more, again in a straight line. It was possible there were nine first, but Franklin saw no sign of them anymore. They all stood vigilant and straight, their hand resting on a large sword and a shield, their body covered in a marble armour. Through a small pass, he could see some sort of building on a cliff, and he barely made out some movement.

"Aha…" Franklin nodded.

"What's wrong?" Rowin frowned, as he looked around.

"I saw something move up there," Franklin nodded towards the cliff, "but I can't see what it is. I think it's a guard since I saw something shining."

"So… what do we do now?" Rowin asked.

"Hope it's not hostile?" Franklin shrugged, "Or, if it is, that it doesn't have any bows?"

Franklin let out a small grin as he heard Rowin gulp, but the grin quickly faded away. All he could do was hope it was Sahasrahla or someone who was on their side. If not, they were fucked.

* * *

They stepped through the small pass and a red feathered arrow landed about ten meters in front of them.

"Halt!" a loud voice boomed as a figure became visible on the cliff.

Franklin and Rowin stopped, their swords firmly in their hands.

"Don't worry," Frankin whispered to Rowin, "if things go bad, I can take them."

Rowin glanced at Franklin to see if he was serious when the man shouted again.

"Who are you?"

Franklin looked at Rowin and motioned he should answer. Rowin paled a bit, but then nodded and took a step forward. Again an arrow came down, a bit further than the first one. Rowin frowned a bit but then looked at the figure.

"I am sir Rowin!" he shouted, "I am here to see Sahasrahla!"

He saw the figure go down, and he imagined the person was asking what to do, or giving orders. He glanced back to the arrows and suddenly realised what Franklin had meant. A good bowmen would have been able to shoot a lot closer than that as a warning shot. That meant there weren't any good bowmen up there, so they could get closer without too many problems. But how could they get up there? He suddenly looked up again, when he saw the figure come back.

"Okay," he said, "you can come through… but we're watching you!"

Franklin simply stepped forward and made his way to the cliff.

"How do we get up?" he shouted to the figure.

Now they could see that he was wearing a breastplate and a helmet, as well as a blue cloak.

"There's a path on the other side," the man replied, pointing somewhere behind him, or at least Rowin expected he pointed since he couldn't see his arm, but he saw the man turn.

Someone who knows his surroundings, went through his head, would know that. Franklin nodded and followed the rock wall.

"So… learn anything?" Franklin whispered to him.

"Uhm…" Rowin repositioned his saddlebag on his shoulder before he replied, "they're from the Royal Army, but they don't have any good bowmen. Which makes sense, since they're renowned in man-to-man combat. And they don't know how to use the area to their advantage."

Franklin nodded and grinned.

"We'll make a decent fighter out of you yet…"

Rowin couldn't help but grin at Franklin's compliment, until he suddenly noticed Franklin was still watching the surroundings, glancing up from time to time. Rowin didn't see any guards, since the edge of the cliff sometimes hung over them.

"If they knew the area better," Franklin told him, "they would have never let us walk this close to the cliff."

Rowin gulped and nodded. It was clear Franklin knew his job. He was definitely different than the stories he had heard about the man from Mendrova. Though he did have the air of arrogance William had told about, Rowin thought, by the fact he forgot his bow and backpack, underestimating the situation like that. Rowin shook this thought away. He should have warned Franklin from the start instead of telling him what was going on as they travelled.

* * *

Rowin jumped up a bit when Franklin raised his hand a bit, signalling him to stop. Before them, was a small path going up the cliff. Unlike the other edges, there were no rocks there, and thus was an easy place to guard. Franklin looked up and saw a guard motioning they could go up. He put his sword away, showing he had no bad intentions and started to climb up. There they were awaited by four soldiers in shining armour and blue cloaks, along with their commander, a large man with blue feathers on his helmet. All of them had a shield on their back and a sword by there side, and one of them held a bow. Franklin grinned and shook his head as he noticed this and looked up at their commander.

"I'm here to see Sahasrahla," he said.

"I would wipe that smirk of your face," the commander said, "you're here with the prime of the Royal Army, and no vagabond with a sword is going to see Sahasrahla."

"Uhm," Rowin stepped forward, "he's with me. I am sir Rowin and I have brought him because I think he can help us with the dangers in the land."

"You think this man can succeed where we have failed?" the commander spat, "and why would this insolent man be better than us?"

"Because I know the tricks of the trade," Franklin said, giving the commander a cold glare, "I'm sure all of you are indeed the prime of the army, and that only one of you would be able to take me down in a battle. But this isn't an ordinary battle, this is a different kind of warfare. One that I know."

"Oh?" the commander smirked, "and what kind of warfare is it then?"

"The kind you'll lose," Franklin shrugged, "all of this is hit-and-run, the same tactics the Moblins use. The tactics we use in Mendrova."

"Keep going," the commander narrowed his eyes.

"First of all," Franklin tapped against the armour of one of the soldiers, "cover these up. I knew you were here because I saw the sun reflecting on the armours. Shining armours may look pretty in parades, but when you're in the woods hunting Moblins, it'll get you killed. And why are you up here, and not in that field with the statues? You can put a hell of an ambush there at the top of that path. Oh, and find some better archers. I bet you guys couldn't have hit us, even if we had painted a big red mark on our chests."

The soldiers started muttering at his words, and the commander grunted loudly.

"And who the hell might you be, then?" he asked.

"I'm Franklin," Franklin said, bracing himself for any laughter.

"Franklin," the commander laughed, "no wonder you think you know warfare. Last thing we need is some wannabe hero."

"Uhm," Rowin stepped forward again, "this isn't really the time… We really need to see Sahasrahla."

"You can," the commander nodded, with a big grin on his face, "if you can best one of us in battle."

"Oh great," Franklin muttered as he shook his head, "I bet that's not usual procedure?"

"What are you talking about," the commander grinned, "of course it is. Damian! You're up!"

A large soldier seemed to jump up surprised as he heard his name and stepped up, drawing his sword and readying his shield. Franklin simply sighed and drew his sword.

"He doesn't even have a shield," one of the guards laughed.

"Well, he did loose it fighting those Moblins," Rowin replied, keeping an eye on Franklin as he calmly stepped up to Damian.

"Moblins?" the commander looked at Rowin, frowning at his words, "what Moblins?"

"Ten Moblins ambushed us in the nearby field," Rowin answered as he saw Franklin roll out of the way of Damian's attack, "he killed them all, but his shield was destroyed in the process."

"That's a joke, right?" one of the soldiers said, "we've heard the stories of Franklin. He's a fucking wannabe. He can't kill of a couple of Moblins."

"Oh, the stories are way off," Rowin said as he watched Franklin kick the shield away from his opponent and use the handle of his sword to hit Damian's chin, "ouch, that must have hurt."

The commander looked back to the fight and saw that, even though Damian seemed to be winning, he had a few cuts and scratches and Franklin had none.

* * *

"What's all this then?" a loud voice suddenly boomed and everyone seemed to scatter.

"Break it up!" the commander told Damian and Franklin and turned to the newcomer, an old man, in long red robes with a blue cloak, "please forgive me, my lord. These two men have come to see you."

Franklin stopped the fight and with a last look at Damian, he sheathed his sword, turning his attention to the old man.

"Are you Sahasrahla?" he asked.

"Yes I am," the man nodded, "I recognise sir Rowin, but I don't know you."

"I am Franklin," Franklin said, "I've come to see you."

"The Franklin from Mendrova?" Sahasrahla narrowed his eyes.

"The stories are not accurate, my lord," Rowin said, "he is very well capable of defending himself, and he's offered to help us."

Sahasrahla looked Franklin up and down and shook his head.

"Come on," Franklin said, "what have you got to lose by telling us?"

Sahasrahla sighed and then nodded.

"Very well, if you insist… follow me."

Sahasrahla returned to the building and Rowin followed him. Franklin turned to Damian to pat him on the back.

"Good fight," he said, "sorry I hit you in the face like that."

"It's okay," Damian blinked, "I don't think I lost a tooth."

"That's the spirit," Franklin grinned as he ran after Sahasrahla and Rowin.

* * *

AN: Updated later than I intended, but I've been busy after my small holiday. Unfortunately that also means I haven't had time to write new stuff (though I have been making some mental notes on how the story will go further). Bottom line is, I may take a few weeks off from updating both Wannabe Hero and the Wind Waker, until I made a decent buffer again and flesh out some new ideas.

Oh, and review, damnit!


	6. The Western Palace

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 6 – The Western Palace

* * *

Sahasrahla led them to a large office at the side of the building where maps of Lepirin were spread over the desk, filled with black markings, showing the portals from which the monsters attacked. Sahasrahla sat in his chair placing his hands against each other and looked Franklin up and down again over the tops of his fingers.

"So," he finally broke the silence, "why are you here exactly."

"Rowin told me about the troubles here," Franklin responded, "and I came to see how I could help."

"That's it?" Sahasrahla rose an eyebrow.

"That's it," Franklin shrugged.

"But why?" Sahasrahla asked.

"I should let those monsters take over?" Franklin asked, "and when they've done that, let them turn their attention to Mendrova? Best to come here and stop them before they get too big."

"So, basically," Sahasrahla replied slowly, trying to evaluate the situation, "you're here because you don't want Mendrova being overrun?"

"Given the welcome I've gotten here," Franklin said harshly, "I don't really see why I should give a fuck about you guys. Now what do you know about those things?"

"Direct, I see," Sahasrahla chuckled, "I like that."

"Yes, very direct," Franklin continued, "now those things? What the fuck are they and where do they come from?"

* * *

"Well…" Sahasrahla seemed to hesitate for a moment and then sighed, "why not? A long time ago, an evil wizard took over Lepirin and corrupted the land, twisting it in some dark version of it. A hero stood up and was able to defeat him, but he couldn't kill the wizard. The wizard was sent, along with his… Lepirin… to somewhere else. Where exactly we don't know, but we say it exists beneath us. The story drifted into legend and then a children's story."

Franklin nodded and urged Sahasrahla to continue with the story.

"Now, it seems the wizard has returned somehow and is attacking us from his twisted version of this fair land," Sahasrahla shook his head, "how, we don't know. If it hadn't been for the ceremony three months ago, we wouldn't have had a chance against their attacks."

"That's when the those holes started to appear, right?" Franklin asked, "and what ceremony are you talking about?"

"Indeed," Sahasrahla nodded, "every year, we enter the Sacred Chamber of the Fairy, our guardian spirit. But this year, she was nowhere to be found. Remembering part of the old story, combined with the appearance of those… "holes"… we understood that she was being held in the dark version of Lepirin and that the evil wizard was trying to return somehow. We immediately send out forces to the three palaces that hold the key to his prison, so we could trap him once again, but we were unable to solve the riddles that protected the palaces. But now, we have found the way into the Western Palace, which is located nearby. A detachment has left shortly before you arrived, to obtain the key to seal the evil wizard back in his prison."

"And this wizard hasn't send any of his minions to this palace?" Franklin raised an eyebrow, "how strange… the first thing Vaati did was making sure he cut off all the things that could stop him, enlarging his power."

"He has tried," Sahasrahla chuckled, "but we have been able to fend off any attack he send."

Franklin quickly shot Rowin a glance that he didn't really buy it, but focussed on Sahasrahla again.

"Mind if I go and check things out?" he asked, "I may be able to help there."

"I doubt it," Sahasrahla shook his head, "I've send the best troops in our army."

"Still, I'd like to go," Franklin persisted, "you can never have too many people to fight off something this dangerous."

"He's true," Rowin nodded, "I want to fight to save my country as well. I've been trained as a swordsman all my life. You can't just tell me that I've wasted my life like that."

"Very well," Sahasrahla sighed, "but I assure you, your actions are in vain. I'm sure the troops have penetrated the castle already and have recovered the key."

"Let's hope so," Franklin nodded, "where is this palace?"

* * *

Soon, Franklin, Rowin and Damian, as their guide, were on their way to the Western Palace. After a long trek up and down various cliffs, they finally saw the large white building on top of the mountain. Franklin frowned as he looked around and he drew his sword and readied the shield the soldiers had given him.

"What's wrong?" Rowin asked as he looked around him, drawing his own sword, "are there enemies around?"

"That's impossible," Damian shook his head, "no one has been able to pass the camp; so it's perfectly safe."

Franklin did a few steps to the west, and then suddenly stopped.

"We go into the palace," his voice sounded determined, "as fast as possible."

"Why?" Rowin frowned, but didn't ask further as Franklin ran to the entrance.

It was clear something was wrong, and Rowin knew it wasn't the time to ask questions.

* * *

The room was lit by torches burning in the mouths of two grotesque stone statues, revealing three doors in the far wall. But this wasn't the first thing the three warriors saw. It was the three bloodstained bodies of the Lepirin soldiers that lay gutted near the doors, next to the corpse of a large Moblin.

"Just as I feared," Franklin grunted, "Damian, go tell Sahasrahla that this wasn't the cake walk he predicted."

"But… no one was able…" Damian started but Rowin cut him off.

"Well, the bad guys pop up from holes in the air. So it's possible they found a short cut or something. Either way, they're here."

"Well, I'll stay," Damian said, "if my friends are in trouble, I must help them."

"Suit yourself," Franklin grunted and stepped forward to the door.

He pushed a large switch in the wall next to the door, causing the middle door to open. Inside, a headless soldier lay in the middle of a bridge, blood sprayed all over the stones.

"What happened here?" Damian gasped.

"Do you really want to know?" Franklin asked as he passed the body without giving it another look, nodding towards a large axe near the edge of the bridge, "another Moblin. Guess he got pushed off the bridge into the deep. How many soldiers were in that squad anyway?"

"Fifteen," Damian replied.

"Guess that's still eleven to go…'

* * *

Franklin opened the door and slowly entered the large hall. They found themselves on a large balcony with steps downward on each side. A loud thundering noise could be heard, and soon they saw a large blood splattered steel ball coming through the hallway to disappear underneath them.

"What the fuck was that?" Franklin asked as he made his way down the stairs.

He looked underneath the balcony and saw a large dark hole in the wall, leading down. He turned around and saw a similar hole on the other side of the hallway, with several small alcoves in the walls. The hall was smeared with blood and the crushed bodies of three soldiers were seen near the walls.

"Guess that's eight left," Rowin gulped, "what do you think happened here? I mean, that ball…"

Rowin fell silent as he heard a rumbling noise on the other side of the hall and saw the steel ball coming up in the hole. With a shock, it came to a stop and then slowly started to roll forward, down the hallway again, crushing the bodies once again as it came closer.

"My guess is, there's some mechanism under the floor that brings the ball back to the other side," Franklin said as he watched the ball roll by, "the room seems flat, but there's an angle, so it always comes rolling this way."

"So, how do we go to the other side?" Damian asked, "try to pass underneath?"

"I think it's impassable," Franklin shook his head, "our only chance is to run through the corridor when the ball is gone." 

"Do you think you can pass it in one run?" Rowin asked.

"I doubt it…" Franklin admitted, "but it has to be doable. It seems the others got through, right?"

"You got a point there…" Rowin slowly nodded, "so… how do we do it?"

* * *

"Here goes nothing," Franklin sighed as the ball passed again.

He ran forward but only made it halfway when the ball appeared again at the end. He cursed, looking around for a way to dodge the ball, and was ready to run back when he spotted the small alcove, just behind him. He quickly squeezed in the small area, feeling a small tug on his back when the ball grazed his backpack. He dared to stick his head out, to see the ball disappear in the black hole and heard the others shout.

"Franklin? You okay?" Rowin called out.

"Yeah," Franklin yelled, "I managed to duck in this small space in the wall… There are a couple others like this! I'll try to make it to the next one when that ball passes again! I'm not gonna risk it now!"

As soon as the steel ball passed again, Franklin pushed himself out of the alcove and ran to the next one, slipping on blood and guts as he nearly reached it. As he fell, he saw the steel ball emerging again and he forced himself up, throwing himself into the new alcove. He landed hard against the stone wall, bruising his elbow, but it was a discomfort he could live with since that ball passed him the moment he entered the small hiding place.

"I'm fine," he yelled out, "I'm gonna make a run for it when it passes again! Oh, and be careful, it's slippery!"

When the ball passed again, he ran to the next alcove, quickly pushing himself in as he waited for the ball to pass. As soon as it passed, he ran to the end of the hall, diving into one of the side corridors. He was safe… now the others. He noticed that a similar balcony was build on this side of the hallway, so he quickly made his way up the stairs, and looked over the hallway.

"Are you ready?" he shouted.

"Yeah!" Rowin shouted back, "I'm next!"

"Run to the first alcove and stay there until the ball passes! Don't take any risks! Slow goes too!"

Rowin nodded and sighed. As soon as the ball had disappeared he ran into the corridor to hide in the first alcove. Watching his step, he made his way to the second alcove and then finally the third to reach Franklin at the end.

"Damian!" Franklin yelled out, "you're next! You ready?"

"Yeah!" the large soldier yelled out and ran into the corridor.

He ducked into the first alcove. When the ball passed, he ran out again to the second one.

"Fuck, he's not gonna make it," Franklin muttered as he watched the soldier run, "he left too late. GET BACK!"

Damian seemed to ignore him as he jumped over a blooded spot and ducked into the second alcove, barely seconds before the ball reached him. Unfortunately, he jumped in at a weird angle and was unable to pull back his left arm. A short wet crack filled the hallway, followed by a loud shriek.

"Damian!" Rowin called out from on the balcony, "are you alright?"

"My arm!" they heard Damian yell back, "it tore my arm off!"

"Fuck," Franklin muttered as he took off his backpack, "fuck, when that ball passed, it broke one of my potions. Good thing I keep my fairies on my belt."

"You think a fairy can heal him?" Rowin asked.

"Nope," Franklin shook his head, "I told you before, there are certain things even a fairy can't heal. A severed arm is one of those things. Damian?"

"Yeah…" Damian's weak reply came.

"Stay with us, man," Franklin tried to reassure him, "we'll try to patch you up when you get here, but you need to focus for the moment. You hear me?"

"I hear you…" Damian nodded as he held his bloodied arm tightly.

"Okay… the ball is coming… and is passing… NOW! Run for it! The next alcove is on the left!" Franklin shouted out.

They saw Damian jump out of the alcove, clutching his left arm and running drunkenly towards them. Just as they thought he would run passed the alcove and straight into the ball, he ducked to the left, throwing himself into the wall. Franklin held his breath when he saw that Damian had apparently fell into the alcove and one of his legs was outstretched in the hallway. Just as the ball drew closer he pulled his leg back. Franklin sighted heavily and muttered a profanity. Slowly Damian crawled up again and when the ball had passed, he made the final run. Rowin had come down to pull him to safety and he pried Damian's fingers away from his arm as Franklin came down with bandages and his jar of salve.

* * *

Damian's arm was torn off right underneath the elbow, the bone sticking out splintered. Franklin examined the wound and shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Rowin frowned as he saw Franklin's face.

"Keep him still," he told Rowin as he drew his sword.

"What… what are you gonna do?" Rowin paled.

"You… you said you were gonna patch me up," Damian stammered, his eyes full with tears.

"I said I'd try," Franklin sighed, as he raised his sword, "but I can't treat that arm, not with that bone sticking out like that. That's why you have to hold him still, Rowin. Damian? Stick something between your teeth, because this will hurt."

Damian suddenly understood him, and stuck the leather strap of his helmet between his teeth. Rowin held the huge soldier back as he put the stump on the floor. Franklin's sword came down and cut off the splintered bone. Damian's helmet fell on the floor as he bit through the strap and he looked down to his arm.

"Okay, Rowin, you got anything to start a fire with?" Franklin asked as he opened the jar of salve.

"We got light enough, right?" Rowin frowned.

"To burn the wound shut, you idiot," Franklin glared at him, "if we got light, try to get one of those torches then!"

Franklin sighed as he tried to put some salve on the arm, but the blood gushing out, washed nearly everything away. When Rowin came with a torch, he quickly grabbed it, and grabbed his shield, shoving the edge in Damian's mouth as he pushed the torch against the bloody stump. Damian's screams, though muffled, filled the hallway, and were only drawn out by the thundering noise of the passing steel ball.

"Is… is he gonna be alright?" Rowin asked as he nodded to the soldier, who was now laying on the ground.

"Yeah, he is," Franklin nodded, "he just passed out. Fuck, I think he bit a chunk out of my shield! Fucking wooden shields. I need a metal one."

* * *

When Damian came round again, his left elbow wrapped in a bloody bandage, he shook his head.

"Sorry, man," Franklin sighed as he put his hand on the soldier's shoulder, "maybe you should turn back. Rowin checked the rest of the room, and there's a way to get back to the entrance without outrunning that ball."

"You mean there was a way around it?" Damian looked up, grunting, "oh fuck…"

"No, it's one way only," Franklin told him, "it's a big jump down, and you can't reach the ledge from below."

"So this arm wasn't lost in vain," Damian tried to grin, but failed, "still, I'm going with you guys. I still got my sword arm. And you need me to let the rest of the guys know you're not with the bad guys."

"There's that," Franklin nodded, "just let us do the hard work."

Damian slowly nodded and tried to get up, trying to lean on his absent arm. He sighed and pushed himself up with his right arm, clutching the handle of his sword as he stood up straight.

* * *

AN: Special Easter update (all non-Christian fans, please ignore this update) to celebrate the fact that Jesus died for our sins and on Easter comes out of his cave, and if he sees his own shadow, we'll have another year of debauchery (I know, I stole that joke from PVP online, but Scott Kurtz stole it from Robin Williams).

Seriously now, I'm still struggling with time, but I'll do my best to write as much as possible whenever I can. But remember, reviews are an extra incentive for me to write, so just hit that review button and let me know what you think. And what's not to like about this chapter? It's got blood in it! What more do you want? Review and let me know!


	7. The First Pendant

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 7 – The first pendant

* * *

Franklin opened the door and they entered another balcony, looking over a large room. In the middle of the room stood a large chest, with a body of a soldier laying over it.

"Another one down," Rowin sighed.

"But what killed him?" Franklin frowned as he looked over the room.

He could see no sign of an attacker. Silently he looked around, observing the two doors at each end of the balcony. He took out a rupee and flipped it.

"We go right first," he said after he looked at the result.

"You decide our path by a coin toss?" Rowin frowned.

"You got a better idea?" Franklin asked as he walked towards the door.

Rowin remained silent and followed the young hero.

* * *

Using a switch, they opened the door and stepped into a large room. Franklin noticed that this was a large upper pathway, over an even larger room, but there was no way to get there. The second thing he noticed were the piles of bones that lay scattered over the room, along with some blood splatters.

"At least there aren't any corpses here," Rowin said, "at least none too recent."

"But there are still enemies, I bet," Franklin's eyes narrowed as he watched a pile, clutching his sword.

Rowin frowned and was about to make a comment when the piles suddenly stirred and the bones reformed into skeletons.

"Stalfos," Franklin answered the unasked question as he struck the first Stalfos straight in the skull.

The skull shattered and the rest fell down, as lifeless as before. He turned around and fended off a blow of a second nearby Stalfos, driving his shield hard against it's ribcage, shattering it. He quickly checked on Rowin and Damian, and though the soldier had it tough, only using one arm, Rowin was more than able to help him. As they fought one of the Stalfos, Franklin dashed forward to a fourth and fifth. With a swift motion, he killed one off and blocked the sword of the other with his shield. He slashed the remaining Stalfos and turned around. Right behind him was another, but he saw another getting too close to Rowin and Damian.

"Rowin! Behind you!" he shouted as he ignored the Stalfos behind him and ran off to help his friend.

Rowin had just managed to dispose of the Stalfos they were fighting and turned, just in time to block the attack with his shield. Damian brought down his sword hard on the skull of the Stalfos, driving it in it's ribcage, causing it to shatter. Franklin kept running, knowing the Stalfos behind him would attack him if he slowed down, but still felt something touching his back. He ducked and rolled, jumping to his feet as he landed, spinning around thrusting his sword forward. It slipped through the ribcage of the Stalfos, that looked at him, with an eternal grin on it's skull.

"This is a trick I once used before," Franklin hissed as he pulled his sword to the side with all his might, cleaving the spine of the Stalfos in two.

He looked around for other opponents he might have missed as the Stalfos fell down.

"Anyone hurt?" he asked, and without waiting for a reply he continued, "good, time to move on then."

* * *

Franklin moved through the room, watching carefully for another ambush when he reached the door in the wall on the other side. Slowly he opened the door and they heard a soft humming and metal scraping stone.

"What is that?" Rowin asked, but then a razor sharp device graced the door.

"Guess that answers your question," Franklin grunted and stepped inside the room.

Only one other door was visible and the large room was empty, safe some pots in the centre, the mechanical device and the body of a soldier laying on the floor, bleeding from countless cuts.

"Guess that's six left," Rowin muttered as he saw the body and then glanced to Damian, "sorry…"

Damian just grunted and eyed the device. Four blades were spinning around, slashing the air, as it moved through the room in apparent random directions. It seemed easy enough to dodge, but it still was able to kill one of the soldiers. Franklin quickly made his way to the door and pushed it.

"Fuck, it's locked," he cursed and looked around for a switch.

"There seems to be something here," Rowin called out from the middle of the room. He kneeled down next to the corpse to examine something on the floor.

"Watch out!" Franklin shouted, "roll forward! Now!"

Rowin looked up and was barely able to contain the reflex to look around to spot the danger and simply rolled forward. The spinner barely missed him and dug it's blades into the body of the soldier again. Rowin paled a bit as he watched the spinner continue it's journey and gulped. He breathed deeply and stood up again, watching Franklin.

"It's a switch," he said, his voice barely shaking, "guess it opens the door."

"Let's hope so," Franklin nodded, "Damian, get over here and watch the door. I'll keep an eye out for something unexpected."

"Like what?" Damian asked as he came running.

"If I knew, it wouldn't be unexpected now, would it?" Franklin tried to grin, but failed, as he knew the situation was far too grave.

The door slid open when Rowin pushed the switch and he came running to enter it before the spinner crossed his path again.

* * *

The new room was a lot smaller compared to the previous one. The were standing on a ledge with an opened chest, looking over a lower section. A ladder on the side of the lower section was leading to another ledge with a closed door. The absence of blood on the floor told them this room was safe.

"Whatever was in this room," Franklin said as he checked the open chest, "it's not here anymore. Guess the others took it with them."

"Do you think it was important?" Rowin asked.

"Don't know," Franklin shrugged, "either way, it's not important right now. Let's get off this ledge and get through that door."

* * *

They emerged in the large room again where they fought the Stalfos. They quickly returned to the middle room again to check out the other corridor. On the other side, another group of Stalfos awaited them, along with the corpse of another guard. Franklin quickly disposed of them, dodging their attacks. They ran to the other door and found themselves in a small room with a locked door on the other end. The floor was scattered with bones, along with the fresh corpse of a guard.

"We look for another switch?" Rowin asked after he glanced at the door and looked around the room for movement.

Franklin gave a slight grin, thinking the guy started to learn the tricks of the trade, as he stepped into the room. A bone cracked underneath his feet, but when he heard a louder crack, he jumped to the side, striking out with his sword. He missed the surfacing Stalfos but didn't really care. It was more a reflex than an accurate swing, so he didn't really expected to hit anything, but it did give him the opportunity to attack the Stalfos properly from a good angle. As the skeleton fell down again, he turned around to attack the second one that had appeared where he was standing just a few seconds ago. He bashed his shield in it's face and struck forward with his sword as it staggered back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rowin and Damian fight a third Stalfos, so he turned to face the last two. With a jump, he reached the fourth and his sword came down hard on it's skull. He spun around and cleaved the ribcage of the last in two. When the last Stalfos fell, the door slid open.

"An ambush?" Rowin asked as he raised his sword.

"No," Franklin shook his head, "I think it's safe. Let's move on."

* * *

The next room had a staircase leading down to the lower level of the room, and an empty chest. Though there were no bodies of guards or enemies, large bloodstains were visible on the floor, leading from the door to the stairs.

"Guess that body wasn't the only victim of those Stalfos," Franklin said as he checked the bloodstains.

"His name was Steven," Damian said.

Franklin didn't respond and quickly checked the empty chest. Whatever was in it, wasn't there anymore, so he took the stairs down. He opened the door and came in a corridor with a passageway to the right, leading under the platform where they fought the Stalfos. Franklin decided to move forward, since that led them to the room with the big chest. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. An empty armour laid scattered on the floor, near a large open gate. The blood trail led to the big chest, so it was possible the man had collapsed there. But when Franklin came closer, he noticed the body had more cuts than expected. There was no way he could have survived, that badly wounded, so he was struck here too. Franklin looked around for a potential enemy and was ready to tell the others to go through the gate, when something caught his eye. The body had a bow and a quiver! Franklin mentally beat himself up that he had completely forgot to ask one when he was with Sahasrahla, but now he had one for the taking. But then again, if he took the bow, there was a chance he set himself up for an attack.

"You guys, go through the big door," he motioned to the door without taking his eyes of the bow, "I'll be right there."

* * *

Franklin hung his shield on his back as he cautiously stepped closer to the corpse. His sword tightly in his grip, he slowly reached to the quiver, stopping mere inches from it to scan the room to see if something had happened.

"What the fuck am I doing?" he hissed to himself, "this had bad mojo written all over it."

He grabbed the quiver and dropped it again to go to a defensive stance. Nothing had happened. He grinned, wiping some sweat of his brow and reached for the quiver again. He undid the clasp and pulled the quiver free. A small rattling made him look up and he saw a Stalfos drop down from the ceiling. He swung the strip of the quiver around his arm as he held his sword ready, seeing three more Stalfos falling from the ceiling. Now he knew what had killed the guard. He dodged the first attack, cursing that he didn't have his shield handy and the quiver was too important to sacrifice to fence off a blow. He jumped off the small platform, bringing his sword down on a Stalfos waiting below and spun around, to parry the blow of another skeleton warrior. He brought his sword, along with his opponents to the ground and stepped on it. This gave him an opening to slash it's skull in half, bringing his opponents down to two. The Stalfos on the platform jumped off, but Franklin quickly struck him down in it's decent. He then jumped back on the platform and pushed himself off on the big chest. His sword entered the skull of the last Stalfos, and it's remains dropped down on the ground. He calmly put his sword away and turned back to the platform to pick up the bow. He checked the chest, which, unsurprisingly, was empty. With a fire in his eyes, Franklin walked to the gate, where Rowin and Damian watched him.

"This is the first time I've been able to watch you fight uninterrupted," Damian said in awe, "I've never seen anyone fight like that… and that speed!"

Franklin said nothing but simply passed them as he hung the quiver on his back.

* * *

The next room was pitch black. Franklin cursed himself that he didn't bring a torch or something when he heard Damian take something out of his backpack. A red light, coming from his lantern filled the room, revealing two empty armours, laying scattered on the floor, along with some bloodstains. The door on the left side was open, so they decided to take the stairs down to the lower level. They came in a small rooms where two of the mechanical devices they encountered before spun around. At least this time, there were no bodies, but there did seem to be a lot of blood on the floor. Under a large bloodstain, Franklin could see something sticking out. Acting on a hunch, he sprung forward and hit it. The door on the other side slid open and quickly they ran to the next room, dodging the spinners. More empty armours laid here, along the corpse of the wounded guard. The door to the other side was locked, but opened when Franklin pushed the switch next to it. Rumbling filled the room and they saw small steel balls run all through the room, some of them stained with blood.

"Stay here," Franklin told the others and ran into the room to a switch in the ground.

He jumped over a steel ball and dodged another one, coming from the other side. He hit the switch but nothing happened. He swore and looked for another, spotting it a bit further. Before Rowin even had a chance to shout a warning, Franklin stepped to the side to let another ball pass and quickly made his way to the switch. This time the door opened and he motioned the others to come over. Rowin ducked forward, jumping over the balls, followed closely by Damian. Just as they reached the door, one of the balls hit Damian's leg, breaking his foot. He fell to the floor with a loud scream, but Franklin dragged him up, and practically threw him trough the door. That's when he heard the battle sounds.

* * *

In the room, a guard, bleeding heavily from a large gash in his shield arm, was fighting a man in a red armour. The guard hit his opponent, but his sword didn't seem to strike anything inside, as the man kept fighting without even flinching. Empty armours, Franklin thought and cursed himself that he didn't pay more attention to the ones they found earlier. Damian drew his sword and jumped in to help his friend, despite his broken foot, but Franklin held Rowin back. Without saying a word, Franklin circled the combatants and now had a better view on the armour. A large black stone with a small white spec in it, was placed on the middle of the helmet, like it was a big eye. Just as he wondered if the white spec was indeed pulsating or if it was his imagination, he knew it was in fact an eye. He drew his bow and let go of the arrow. It flew over Damian and hit the eye right in the white spec. The black orb shattered and the armour fell down on the floor. The guard fell down too, but from exhaustion and blood loss. Damian held him up, calling out to Rowin to give him a drink bottle and a fairy. Franklin kneeled down next to him to check his wound.

"He won't be needing a fairy," he said, "I'll put a bandage on it and he'll be fine."

"We need to help him," Damian hissed.

"He'll be fine," Franklin repeated, a bit more urgent, "trust me, I've done this before."

* * *

As Franklin put a bandage around the wound, and Rowin gave a fairy to Damian to heal his broken foot, the guard came too again.

"Bertrum," Damian said, "what happened? Where are the others?"

"Guess… guess it was a little harder than we imagined," Bertrum tried to smile, "all the others… are dead… I'm sure you've seen their corpses…"

"We did," Franklin said, without looking up from his work, "we didn't find everyone, but then again, we didn't check all the rooms."

"Well," Bertrum grunted as he tried to sit up, "I'm the only one left. I didn't want to disappoint Sahasrahla by returning, so I pressed on."

"How noble," Franklin said, finishing the bandage, "more honour than he deserves, I bet."

"Who is this guy anyway?" Bertrum frowned as he looked Franklin over.

"That's uhm, Franklin," Damian replied, a bit embarrassed, something that didn't escape Franklin's attention, "from Mendrova."

"Franklin?" the guard asked, "you mean the wannabe?"

"He's not like what we've been told," Damian shook his head, "I saw him fight and he took down four of those skeletons in less than five minutes."

"You're fucking with me, aren't you?" Bertrum's eyes grew wide, "we killed six of them with eight men, and that took us half an hour!"

"Yeah, those weren't exactly dead," Franklin said, "how far to the end?"

"I…"Bertrum looked in Franklin's eyes and paled a bit; "I got a map… it's not far anymore."

"Let's finish this then," Franklin nodded as he got up.

"Let's go," Rowin nodded.

"You better be sure," Franklin said as he eyed the final door, "I have a feeling this will be a lot harder than anything we've encountered this far."

"To be honest, I didn't think I'd make it this far," Rowin replied, "so why not go all the way."

"Okay," Franklin nodded, "but you better not make me tell your sister you've died. I suck at that."

Rowin was about to make a comment, when he noticed Franklin's tone of voice. Suddenly he realised Franklin had already delivered bad news more than enough.

* * *

The door opened and Franklin stepped in with his sword ready, closely followed by Franklin, Damian and Bertrum. The large room seemed empty except for a large armour in the middle. Around it's neck hung a shining pendant.

"That's the one we need," Bertrum whispered as he eyed it.

Franklin quickly scanned the room, when he suddenly realised he was looking for the wrong thing. The enemy wasn't hiding, he was in plain sight. He was barely able to jump out of the way of the huge sword the armour swung. The armour was about twice his size, with a proportional sword and shield, so close combat was out of the question. Franklin jumped back, and took out his bow.

"You guys stay out of range!" he yelled as he aimed his first arrow, "but be ready to go in and slash it when it's down!"

He barely registered Rowin nod when he let go of the arrow. As he expected, the armour raised his shield to block the arrow, leaving his kneecap open.

"Worth a shot," Franklin muttered as he let go of a second arrow.

The arrow entered the kneecap and the armour fell down on it's knee, supporting himself on his sword.

"Now!" Franklin shouted as the others dashed forward, bringing their swords down on the armour.

It seemed to shriek in pain and got up again. Rowin quickly jumped back, but Damian and Bertrum stayed to fight. The armour turned and swung it's sword, hitting Bertrum who was too late to roll out of the way.

"Get him a fairy!" Franklin shouted as he fired his bow again.

He cursed silently as he saw Rowin run to the fallen guard. He'd rather have Rowin fight the armour than Damian, and not only because Damian had only one arm left. Rowin needed to save his fairies, for when something happened to him, but then again, neither Bertrum of Damian had fairies. Damian got another hit in, and Franklin sighed content when he saw Bertrum and Franklin run back to safety. Franklin shot again, hitting it in the helmet this time. Rowin dashed forward, striking the armour, causing it to drop it's shield. The armour got up, holding it's huge sword now with two hands, looking menacingly to Rowin. The young man gulped and flinched for a second. Franklin let go of a new arrow, hitting the armour, but now it didn't seem to faze it as much anymore. Franklin cursed and drew his sword, running forward. He pushed Rowin out of the way, just as the large sword came down, barely missing Franklin. Franklin rolled forward, bringing his sword up to it's knees and struck it deep in the armour. It seemed he could feel something in the armour… but it wasn't flesh. He jumped out of the way again from another attack and countered, striking it in it's groin. Hardly fair, he thought, but the only thing he could reach. A third hit caused the armour to fall on it's knees again. Franklin didn't hesitate and planted his sword straight in the helmet of the armour. The sword fell on the floor, followed by other parts of the armour.

* * *

When the empty armour was finally laying scattered on the floor, he calmly stood up and picked up the pendant.

"This is the key?" he asked Bertrum as he looked at the green pendant.

"It is," Bertrum nodded, "you better give it to me…"

"I'm keeping this," Franklin replied as he put it in his pocket.

He didn't trust it enough to put it around his neck. First Sahasrahla had to explain some more things, but he would keep it. After all, he was the one fighting the bad guys, wasn't he?


	8. Kerivon

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 8 – Kerivon

* * *

Somehow they made it out the palace in one piece. Rowin was ready to take the way back when Franklin stopped him and shook his head.

"Let's go that way," he nodded to the rock cliff.

"But there's nothing there," Rowin frowned, looking at Damian and Bertrum.

"Remember that dead Moblin in there?" Franklin asked, "and those armour we fought?"

"Yeah…" Rowin replied with a frown.

"Where do you think they came from?" Franklin continued stepping towards the cliff.

"Well…" Rowin blinked and looked at Damian and Bertrum for support.

They both shrugged and turned their attention back to Franklin.

"Remember when I said we had to hurry, shortly before we entered the palace?"

Rowin nodded and wanted to say something, when Franklin suddenly stepped off the cliff. He was ready to scream something, but stopped when he saw Franklin simply standing there, right behind the cliff.

"It's because I saw tracks leading to this small trail," Franklin said as he went down another step.

"You mean… there's another path to the palace?" Damian blinked.

"No one can pass the camp," Franklin muttered as he shook his head, continuing down the stairs, carved into the rocks.

* * *

After following a small trail, at the bottom of the stairs, they reached the river again. They followed it until they reached the white marble gate and took the path towards the plateau. When they were halfway up the path, two guards appeared at the top, armed with bows.

"Who goes there?" they shouted.

"It's me, sir Rowin," Rowin shouted back, "we've come back from the Western Palace."

"But… the palace is on the other side," one of them replied.

"Long story," Franklin said, "and we'll tell Sahasrahla all about it."

When they arrived at the top, they were greeted by the two guards.

"Bertrum?" one of the guards noticed the wounded man, "where are the others?"

"Things… didn't go so well…" Bertrum replied, "we got to get to Sahasrahla as fast as possible."

"Did you send word of our arrival?" Franklin asked.

"No," the other guard shook his head, "we're the only ones here."

"I see," Franklin nodded, "best we get moving then."

Without waiting for a reply, or another question, Franklin begun running across the field. Rowin, Damian and Bertrum followed him. It was good the commander had followed Franklin's suggestion, he thought, but it was necessary for some sort of warning mechanism too. That was one of the reasons why the patrols in Mendrova consisted of three persons. Two to keep the intruders busy, a third to warn the others.

* * *

Soon they were at top of the cliff, waiting until Sahasrahla came. When he came out of the building, Franklin walked up to him, taking out the medallion.

"Ah, you have the first key," Sahasrahla smiled and extended his hand, "now give it to me."

"Not yet," Franklin shook his head and put it back into his pocket, "first we have a little talk."

Some of the soldiers drew their swords, but Sahasrahla motioned them to step down.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I want more information about this medallion," Franklin said, "and I think you know more than you told us before. I want the full story. You said it turned into a children's story, so tell me how it goes."

"Very well," Sahasrahla sighed and opened the door again, "come inside and I'll tell you."

* * *

"A long time ago," Sahasrahla told Franklin, "the wizard took over by changing the regions of Leperin. To make his enchantments permanent, he needed the power of the Great Fairy, but she had fled. The evil wizard had a feeling to where she had fled, because some time before he started his campaign, she had fallen in love with someone. He send his forces to his home, and killed him, but the Great Fairy was able to escape with her son. He swore vengeance and was given a sword and three medallions from his mother, the Great Fairy. With that magical sword and the three medallions, of power, courage and wisdom, he was able to defeat the wizard and send him and his version of our fair land to another plane of existence. He had stolen some items from the wizard so he could follow him and destroy him once and for all, but he failed. Even though he had sealed the wizard in, he hadn't been able to kill him. When the hero died many years later, the Great Fairy hid the medallions in three hiding places, and placed the sword at his tomb in the Lost Woods, so when the seal of the evil wizard broke, we would be able to fight him again, and this time kill him."

Franklin slowly nodded and looked up to Sahasrahla.

"So, I need to go to the Lost Woods too to get the sword?"

"You won't get that sword so easily," Sahasrahla chuckled as he shook his head, "there's a spell on the woods. Why do you think they're called the Lost Woods anyway? That's because anyone who enters them, gets lost and ends up at the entrance again. The only way to reach the sword is to use the magic of all three medallions."

"So, I still need the other two before I can get the sword," Franklin nodded.

"What makes you think you'll wield the sword?" Sahasrahla asked, "you will give the medallions to us."

"No I won't," Franklin shook his head, "I get the medallions, so I get the sword."

"You only have one, and I bet it's due to extreme amounts of luck," Sahasrahla replied.

Franklin glanced at Rowin and Damian. Both cleared their throat slightly to indicate Sahasrahla was wrong.

"So, what exactly does this medallion do?" Franklin asked as he took it out of his pocket again."

"That's the pendant of Courage," Sahasrahla sighed, giving in, "I don't really know what it does, but I assume it gives you more courage…"

"Fair enough," Franklin shrugged as he put it around his neck, "don't feel any different, but still. Where can I find the other pendants?"

"There's one at the desert, but the entrance is blocked, and the last one is at the Mountain Tower, but we've been unable to even reach the entrance."

"Rowin, how far to the desert?" Franklin asked.

"Uhm… about day with a horse," Rowin replied, "two and half without. And since we don't have any horses…"

"Okay then," Franklin nodded, "it's getting late, so we'll sleep here, and leave tomorrow at dawn."

* * *

The following morning, Franklin and Rowin readied themselves for their long trip. Rowin suggested to go Kerivon, the capital first, since it wasn't that far, and it was the closest place where they could get horses. Sahasrahla decided to break up the camp, since there was no more reason for the soldiers to be there, so Franklin and Rowin could join them back to Kerivon. They travelled quickly, and late in the afternoon, they saw the towers of Kerivon in the distance.

"I will tell the king of your help," Sahasrahla told Franklin, "I'm sure he'll want to meet you when I explain everything to him."

"Thanks," Franklin said, "but I think it's best if we leave right after we get some horses."

"Are you kidding?" Rowin hissed, "meeting the king is one of the greatest honours any man could get!"

"Well," Franklin turned back to Sahasrahla; "then again, it would be considered rude. In the mean time, we can get some better supplies."

"Very well," Sahasrahla nodded.

* * *

Franklin and Rowin picked out two new horses, and Franklin bought a sturdy steel shield. He chose a new bow, restocked on his arrows and got a decent backpack. By the time he was ready, a soldier came looking for him to bring him to Sahasrahla. Franklin and Rowin followed him to the castle and a valet escorted them to the throne room. There Sahasrahla was waiting for them, with the king and queen sitting on their thrones. Franklin glanced around, and saw about twenty soldiers on the ground floor, each holding a large shield and a spear, with twenty more, armed with bows on the balcony. Just like in Mendrova, he thought and had somehow expected more security, considering the problems in the land. They followed Sahasrahla to the throne and bowed before the king.

"Greetings, sir Rowin," the king nodded to Rowin and then turned to Franklin, "so, you're Franklin… I've heard a lot about you, I must say."

Franklin didn't respond, but he could hear in the voice of the king that the most part was from William.

"You have recovered the Pendant of Courage, have you not?" the king continued.

"I have, your highness," Franklin nodded, keeping his eyes low.

"And Sahasrahla says you wish to keep it?"

Rowin paled a bit. Saying to Sahasrahla to keep the pendant was one thing, but defying the word of the king was another.

"Since I'm the one that retrieved it, yes," Franklin said, "I plan to get the others too and protect them, so our opponent can't steal them."

"You probably got it by chance," a young woman, right of the king, sneered.

Franklin glanced up and glared at her.

"Now, my dear," the king said, "Sahasrahla said he fought hard to obtain it. You'll have to excuse my daughter, Franklin."

Franklin was just about to say something when the princess spoke again.

"I bet he just waited until the other soldiers defeated the monsters in the palace," she said, "and then claimed it as his own."

"Trishia!" the queen sounded shocked.

Franklin hadn't really expected things would go better than they did in Sahasrahla's camp, since both Damian and Bertrum weren't here. After all, no king wants to see war victims. He had seen the same thing in Mendrova, but he had forced to make the king of Mendrova acknowledge things weren't going well with the Moblins by sending wounded men to report directly to him.

"Yes, I did," Franklin spoke out, to the surprise of everyone present, "I hid in the shadows until the fighting was done and then took the pendant, saying I was the one who defeated the lot. Now, if you'll excuse, I have to go to the desert and get the second pendant. I'd ask for your army to accompany me, so I can do it again, but I'm so euphoric from my first success, I'll go alone."

With that, he stood up straight and turned around without glancing to the royal couple to walk out the throne room, leaving everyone dumbstruck. Rowin quickly bowed to the king and queen and quickly ran after Franklin.

"What the hell was that?" Rowin hissed.

"You got everything you need?" Franklin asked, "supplies and stuff?"

"Yes, I do," Rowin nodded, "but…"

"Good, we leave right away," Franklin sounded grim, "I've had enough with this shit."


	9. The Desert

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, any of the characters in the Zelda series or the "original characters" that I created based on them, except their name (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

* * *

Chapter 9 – The Desert

* * *

Franklin and Rowin rode their horses rapidly. Normally they would have stayed in Kerivon for the night, but Franklin got so riled up with the princess, he decided to leave right away. Now they had to hurry if they wanted to reach Tilmarsh before dark. Tilmarsh was a large village, north of Kerovin, build next to an old marsh, but thanks to proper irrigation, the people had been able to turn it into fertile lands. But the main reason for the village was that it was next to the desert, the only thing that connected it to Hyrule. Merchants would rest there and get all the necessary supplies for their trek through the desert.

* * *

It was just after nightfall when they finally reached Tilmarsh. Rowin looked for an inn to spend the night and made arrangements to be woken early in the morning. The next morning they were given directions to an army camp near the entrance of the desert where Sahasrahla's soldiers awaited their orders. Several hours later, they arrived there and were stopped by three guards.

"Halt!" one of them said, "who goes there?"

"I'm sir Rowin," Rowin said, "we're here to get the pendant."

"Just the two of you?" another guard frowned.

"Just the two of us," Franklin nodded, "where is the palace?"

"It's, uhm…" the guard had already turned around to show directions when he turned back to Franklin, "it's really just the two of you?"

"Just let us pass to your commander," Rowin sighed.

The guards let them pass to the main camp, and Franklin rode a bit closer to Rowin.

"Yep, they're military alright," he grinned.

* * *

The news of their arrival had spread soon, and the commander of the camp awaited them.

"Sir Rowin," he bowed slightly to Rowin, "how may we help you?"

"We're here to get the pendant," Rowin said, "we've already helped Sahasrahla in the Western Palace to get the first one."

"Do you have any credentials?" the commander asked, "I'm terribly sorry, but it's procedure, you know."

"I understand," Rowin nodded, "credentials, well…"

Franklin nudged him and nodded to an arriving messenger. The messenger gave a scroll case to the commander, saying it was an urgent message of Sahasrahla and the king.

"There are our credentials," Franklin said.

"What if it's a warrant on our heads because you didn't give the pendant?" Rowin whispered.

"I doubt Sahasrahla is that stupid," Franklin whispered back, "he knows I'm his only chance."

The commander read the scroll and nodded.

"Indeed, you speak the truth," he turned back to Rowin and Franklin, "and the king has ordered me to send some of my men with you. He says he was planning on sending his entire army but that you left too soon?"

"Private joke," Franklin said, "what can you tell me about the palace?"

"It's a dangerous place," the commander said, "the Durba tribe has their camp near the entrance, and they're an un-trusty lot. They kill anyone who tries to cross the desert without their help. If you want to get to the other side, you have to pay them a lot of money."

"Are they the only dangers?" Franklin asked.

"As far as I know, yes," the commander nodded, "although there seemed to be some uprising about three days ago, and some tried to attack us. We beat them back into the desert."

"What do you mean, an uprising?" Franklin frowned.

"I don't know," the commander shrugged, "who cares about that desert scum?"

"I see…" Franklin narrowed his eyes, "guess I'll go and see if I can pass them."

"I'll send for some men," the commander nodded, "you'll need all the protection you can get against those bandits."

Franklin turned back to his horse and when he was out of earshot of the commander he glanced up to Rowin.

"First thing we'll do," Franklin said, "is talk to those Durba's."

"What?" Rowin's eyes grew wide, "didn't you hear what he said?"

"Yes, I did," Franklin nodded, "and that's the reason I want to talk to them. Why would they suddenly attack the camp, with only a few men? Something happened. And I think we need to help them."

Rowin blinked.

"Do you think that uprising was one of those portals?"

"Could be," Franklin shrugged, "but I hope not. If it is, and these fuckers keep the Durba in the desert, they might all get killed."

* * *

Rowin and Franklin had gotten their equipment ready and gotten their horses to a safe place, when ten soldiers came to them.

"Good morning, gentlemen," one of them grinned, "we'll be your escort in the desert. We'll make sure nothing happens to you until you can get your hands on that precious pendant."

Franklin sighed and looked the soldier straight in the eye.

"I take it you've heard who I am?"

The soldier looked at the others who stood there, snickering.

"Yes," the soldier grinned, "and I must say, it's a great honour to be in the presence of such a great hero."

"Well," Franklin smiled, "it's a great honour to be escorted by nine of the finest soldiers of Lepirin."

"Sorry to correct you, my lord," the soldier grinned, "but there's ten of…"

Franklin's fist came hard on the man's nose, breaking it with a loud crack. He fell on his knees, clutching at his nose, while blood poured out of it. The others barely had the time to respond and all looked dumbstruck at Franklin.

"Now," he said in a grim voice, "anyone else who thinks he can make fun of me, will be left in the desert to die. You got that? Now let's go."

Franklin turned around and marched to the edge of the camp, closely followed by Rowin. The nine remaining soldiers, shocked by the event, left their companion and ran after Franklin.

* * *

The group walked up to the camp of the Durba, and Rowin noticed some men, armed with spears, watching them.

"We're being watched," he whispered to Franklin.

"You're talking about the ones with the spears, or the one with the bows?" Franklin replied without holding his pace.

Rowin blinked and looked around again. On a ledge in the distance, he could barely make out some movement. Something told him, these guys shot better than the soldiers.

"I am Franklin!" he said in a loud voice, "I have come to stop the evil threatening this land!"

"You're one of the soldiers of the king?" a large man, bronzed by the desert sun, his body covered in scars, stepped forward.

"No," Franklin shook his head, "I'm from Mendrova."

"Wait," another one laughed, "you're -that- Franklin? The wannabe?"

"I see William has passed here too," Franklin sighed, "yes, that Franklin… now, I take it from the damage in your camp, one of the portals opened here?"

"It did," the large man nodded, "some monsters came out and took my sister. Some of us tried to run to your camp for shelter, but they were killed by the soldiers."

"They took your sister?" Franklin frowned and turned to Rowin "that's strange… yesterday I was talking to a man in Tilmarsh and he said they had taken his daughter with them. I have a feeling Sahasrahla hasn't told us everything after all."

"Why would he not tell us?" Rowin frowned.

"I don't know," Franklin said and turned back to the Durba, "we just need access to the palace. Actually, only I need access. The others will stay here."

The soldiers shifted a bit uneasy. They'd rather face unknown perils in the palace than stay in a hostile camp filled with dangerous desert bandits.

"We can lead you to the entrance," the man shrugged, "but I doubt it'll do you any good."

"Why's that?" Franklin asked.

"You'll see," he grinned.

* * *

The Durba brought them to large plateau where three stone pillars were standing. One of them was blocking the way to the large building, shaped in the head of a monster.

"We don't know how to move it," the man shrugged, "otherwise, we'd have entered it a long time ago."

"These markings on the stone…" Franklin said as his fingers traced the ancient script that covered the pillars.

"Well, what do you know," one of the soldiers laughed, "the great hero can also read the ancient language as well as fight."

Franklin glanced to him and looked back to the pillar.

"He's got a point," Rowin whispered, "we need something to translate the ancient language before we can move on."

"Fine," Franklin sighed, "and how do you suggest we do that?"

"There's a large library in the city of Koriko, where I'm from," Rowin said, "I'm sure there's an old book there that can translate these scriptures."

"So we get the book then," the scarred Durba bandit nodded.

"We?" Franklin raised an eyebrow and then sighed, "sure, why not… the more the merrier, and the more time wasted. You can come, but in return, your men have to take care of my wounded soldier."

"What wounded soldier?" the man frowned.

Franklin walked up to the soldier who had laughed. The soldier paled and reached for his sword to defend himself, but Franklin kicked him on the elbow. A loud snap was heard and before he had a chance to scream, Franklin had his throat in a tight grip.

"I warned you fuckers, didn't I?" he hissed before he threw him off the plateau on the desert sand.

He turned around to the scarred man and nodded to the soldier on the ground.

"That wounded soldier," Franklin said, "consider this a test. You can come with us to Koriko to get the book, but, if he's not looked after and alive when we get back here, we'll leave you behind, and we enter the palace without you. Though, between you and me, that would be the best."

"He'll be looked after," the man slowly nodded, barely taking in what exactly had just happened.

* * *

Soon Franklin left the camp, followed by Rowin, eight of Sahasrahla's soldiers and five Durba's, including Ge'orvin, the scarred man. They picked up their horses, and rode passed Tilmarsh to the road of Koriko.

"The library is just at the edge of the city," Rowin said.

Franklin just nodded but glanced at Rowin.

"Something bothering you?" he asked.

"Well," Rowin hesitated, "do you have to be that violent? I mean, is it really necessary to throw people of ledges, just because they laugh?"

"I'm not always like this, I admit," Franklin said, "in fact, I've only felt like this when I was training under Caleb. Like I told you before, the harassment from William and the others didn't do my mood any good, and being free from it did wonders for me. I became respected as a swordsman in Mendrova and everyone held me in high regard. And then you showed up."

Rowin's face dropped a bit.

"It's not you," Franklin shook his head, "I know that. It's William's poisoning words. But it seems, in the short time he was here, it spread like a wildfire. And now, every place I visit here, I'm reliving my childhood, where I was trashed by the others before I had a chance to prove myself. Yesterday in Tilmarsh, an old guy started mocking me, when I told him who I was. Called me a wannabe. You have no idea how sick and tired I am of hearing that."

"I can see your point," Rowin admitted, "but you can't go around hurting people like that."

"I'll do my best to restrain me," Franklin grinned, "besides, I think they've learned their lesson now. Still, it would be best if I could walk around without people calling me a wannabe."

* * *

A few hours later, they arrived at the outskirts of Koriko village. As Rowin pointed out the large library, one of the city guards came running to see who the soldiers were, but withdrew immediately when Rowin flashed Sahasrahla's letter. Franklin dismounted and entered the library.

"So, now what?" he asked Rowin as he looked at the large bookcases crammed with old books.

Rowin simply walked up to the large desk in the middle of the building and talked to the clerk behind it. She nodded and left to go somewhere in the back. A few minutes later, an old librarian came to see who needed him. His face cleared when he spotted Rowin.

"Ah, sir Rowin, how good to see you," he smiled, "how is your lovely sister."

"She's fine," Rowin said, "she's in the sanctuary. We have come for a book."

"You have come to the right place," the librarian smiled as he motioned to the bookcases, "that's what we have here."

"We need a book that can translate the ancient scriptures," Rowin said.

"I see," the man frowned a bit, "it might take me some time, but I'm sure I'll find it."

"Send a word to Rowin's house when you find it," Franklin said, "we need it as soon as possible."

"Very well," the librarian nodded.

* * *

Franklin didn't take the time to visit Koriko, but went straight to Rowin's large estate, not far from the library. Rowin was welcomed back by his father, and was promised his father would send some guards to bring Alicia home safely. He introduced Franklin, who was greeted with a lot of scepticism, despite the tales Rowin told his father.

"See?" Franklin grinned, "I'm not hurting anyone."

Rowin's father frowned and Rowin slightly gulped.

"Right," Franklin turned to the soldiers and the Durba, "we'll turn in for today."

"It's only in the afternoon!" one of the soldiers objected.

"When we get the book, it'll be too late to go back to the desert," Franklin said, "it'll be the middle of the night, and then we'll loose too much time the day after. We get some sleep now, and leave tomorrow before dawn. Then we'll arrive at the palace sometime in the morning, and we can go in right away. Any questions?"

The soldiers shook their head, and the Durba, after glancing at Ge'orvin, did the same. Franklin nodded. Finally they had started listening to him.

* * *

AN: Somehow all my stories evolve when I write them. No matter how I picture them in my head, when I write them down, there are some unexpected twists. Some of them are good, others are bad, mostly they are both. And for the moment, there are some twists for both The Wind Waker and Wannabe Hero. They're good because, well, you'll read them later. They're bad because it forces me to take some serious time off to plan them carefully so I don't fuck up when I'm writing the story. So, for the moment I'll stop uploading any more chapters until I've worked out a detailled (or nearly detailled) plotline concerning these twists (and have a decent buffer again).

You want to know what twists? -sigh- fine... Franklin needs to get the Ice Rod, so I need a reason why he has to go to Lake Hylia (and I probably need a new name for that since this isn't Hyrule, suggestions are appreciated). Also there are the missing girls I need to calculate into the story but I'm working on that. And then I still have to find a good, plausible way for that mirror that allowed Link to switch between the Dark and Light world.

Anyway, it'll work out fine, I'm sure. So there's nothing left for you guys to do except enjoying the ride and review.


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